Who invented the "Spanning Tree Protocol"?

Radia Perlman is credited with inventing the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP). She created this protocol while working at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in the late 1980s. STP is a network protocol that prevents loops in Ethernet networks, ensuring efficient and reliable communication. Perlman's invention revolutionized network design by providing a technique to ensure redundancy without introducing network loops, thereby increasing network reliability and availability.